@2: “How many 5G Touch buyers will prefer that size over an iPad mini? Some may want a device they can slip in their pocket as opposed to a mini tablet form factor, but this is where the market sensitivity to size will unfold by this time next year when sales of both devices are well underway.”

At this point it’s all about specs and apps. For those, like me, who treat their iOS devices more like this era’s DS/PSP + media player, the iPad mini is, in theory, the better option. If all I wanted to do was keep on playing music in my car and while I wash the dishes I would have no reason to upgrade. I’m even prepared to just grab a nano if they put out a *proper* iPad mini for mowing the lawn.

However, the interesting part is what exactly Apple is going to do with that theoretically preferable mini, because the obvious reason to put out such a device is to compete with the Kindle Fire and other Android mini tablets, and those things are already cheaper than the cheapest iPod touch. It’s entirely possible in spite of the rumors that the iPad mini might become the redheaded stepchild in the iOS line up while the 5G touch goes onto become their “PSP killer”.

All of which is why I hope they don’t do something as annoying as stagger the releases. I was way past wanting to upgrade my touch last year when it was already dated.

Posted by Code Monkey in Midstate New York on July 30, 2012 at 10:09 PM (CDT)

A new Touch using some of the same hardware of the next gen iPhone (maybe with a leftover A5 or neutered A6 processor) may not be terribly profitable for Apple, but I don’t think they’d care all that much. Filling this niche with a capable device in this form factor is probably more value to Apple than the per-device profit. Even if the hardware doesn’t make that much money, such a device sells apps & media, and fills an important role in the overall portfolio of Apple mobile devices.

But doing that and an iPad mini (at perhaps similar price points) is going to be an interesting marketing tale to watch unfold.

How many 5G Touch buyers will prefer that size over an iPad mini? Some may want a device they can slip in their pocket as opposed to a mini tablet form factor, but this is where the market sensitivity to size will unfold by this time next year when sales of both devices are well underway.

How many 5G Touch buyers will cry foul if an iPad mini is much more preferable, and introduced only a few months after a 5G Touch? For those people it may irk them as it irks Code Monkey, but these days if you don’t do your homework before springing for a tech device of this caliber to see what else is coming soon, then I have little pity for you. It might seem unfair to capitalize on the naiveté of some, but hey that’s business as usual (not just with Apple I might add).

The part that irks me, if rumors are to be believed, is they’re staggering the update to the touch and debut of the mini-iPad as those are the products that actually are competing. It’s nice to see they’ve finally realized the iPhone and touch aren’t competing, but then we get these sort of shenanigans.

The 4G touch is a very good portable A/V media consumption device. Unfortunately, it’s mediocre on a good day for the majority of high profile entertainment apps that have appeared over the past year+, so the update to the touch is going to be driven primarily by its app competence. And that’s why this irks me, if gaming is a priority, you’re not going to want to commit to either the touch or the mini-iPad until you see their specs, but that’s not going to be possible with this rumored release schedule. You either risk having to double dip if the mini-iPad turns out to be particularly attractive compared to the updated touch, or you hold off updating your rusty and creaking 4G touch for another 2-3 months to avoid making the wrong commitment.

Posted by Code Monkey in Midstate New York on July 30, 2012 at 9:25 AM (CDT)

It would be nice if the iphone 5 had dual stereo speakers and louder volume I mean so many smartphones have low volume and what good is a phone for if you cannot hear it ring or the other person cannot hear you talking from the other end. We are talking about one of the highest tech phones in this era come on lets take it up a notch with some high quality stereo speakers and good volume come on we know you can do it.

“Updated February 22, 2012: Users—including one of our editors—have continued to experience problems at least intermittently despite several point releases of OS X 10.7, and Apple has posted an updated solutions page here. The company’s recommended solution (click “Solution” under “Symptom: The network connection drops unexpectedly”) is to use Network Preferences to delete all of your computer’s remembered wireless networks, then use Keychain Access to delete all of your wireless passwords from Login and System, and finally to restart your Mac and re-join your network of choice. For full details, see Apple’s link. We hope it helps!”

These steps temporarily resolved the issue but the problem reappeared by the next day. Back to square one.

Saying it is FREE is a misconception to children.
I tried to explain to the G’daughter that nothing in this world is FREE, someone somewhere is paying for it. In this case me in data download/upload. Please tell that to the kids.

I had the same question. But I picked up the radio (open box) anyway. The main reason is ease of use. With a Touch you need it docked to listen to it, so controlling it from across the room or another room is out, unless you have a 2nd iPod Touch or iPhone handy. Also you have to fire up each app separately (e.g. Pandora, Slacker, BBC, your computer’s lossless Itunes collection via Home Sharing) so it’s just more back and forth. At the end, compared to an iPod Touch connected to an audio system, it’s mostly about the remote app convenience and if you’ve got more than one (radio, sb receiver connected to an audio system) in your home, syncing them altogether is a perk.

RECENTLY INSTALLED SNOW LEOPARD ON MY MACBOOK hoping it would solve the many problems I have had with Leopard. It has only made things worse. MUCH WORSE.
SNOW LEOPARD SUCKS! APPLE doesn’t care about it’s computer users anymore. Apple only wants to sell phones and entertainment.
The higher it’s stock valuation the crappier it’s computers. I’ve been using Mac’s since the Apple II. Snow Leopard is driving me insane. Hate it, don’t waste your money, Apple won’t give you a refund.

really, what i actually think is that Bon Jovi has not put out a remarkable song in the last 15 years. To say that today’s musicians are not “real” musicians is in my opinion correct, but it is quite hypocritical for him to say, since Bon Jovi is already starting to bend with the trend

I use a D3 and D800 for my semi pro shooting, I need very fast speed and often need to cope with low light in the early morning or late afternoon. So here I go carrying around a pack full of expensive lenses and bodies which is fine for a big outing, but what about casual shooting when I don’t want to take all the gear?

Add to this a slick icon based touch interface like the iPhone where I could have programmed icons for my preferred shooting situation. And for people that don’t know how these features interact, put in a graph with a slider so that you can see how changing one variable has an effect on another, do this visually and people new to photography will love it…..

I am so all over it!!!

I do try to use the Cannon D12 and others like it but they have far more of what I don’t need and not nearly enough of the basic functions that I do need. Further I don’t want to have to go through complex menus, create a custom shot and then not be able to save it for easy access as I can on my pro gear.

I guess I want it all, but hey were talking Apple here and….soooo yes I do want it all ;)

If you’re Apple your first question is to the why you would make such a product. There are many point and shots with super simple user modes (everything automated) and great image quality - basically, the whole purpose for the point & shoot segment - no point competing there unless Apple can improve a specific area which I’m not sure exists.

On the other spectrum you have the semi-pro and pro gear which is typically bulkier due to the need of a large sensor. Do I see Apple going into the semi-pro category against m4/3, Nikon, Samsung, Sony, etc.? Probably not.

Apple could fit in with a semi-pro camera (something like a Canon G11) that’s running iOS whereby the iOS photo apps can leverage the superior optics. But the camera would also need WiFi and then what you really have is a bulky iPod touch.

But hey, here’s an idea: why not just create semi-pro optics as a sleeve for iPhones and iPod touches? Nahhh.. then you have to bring two pieces - not very elegant.

Where does that leave the camera? Well, it’s already there in the iPod touch which has been significantly limited in its Photo taking ability. What if Apple would release an iPod touch with a much improved camera system? We know that Nokia has been very successful with its latest camera system (44 mega pixels etc.).

A point and shoot camera, especially an innovative lightfield camera would fit perfectly to Apple.

Just a short question concerning your uspto-links: I just blogged mentioning some uspto-aspects in your article. But when checking your uspto-links, I found out that they are broken. What were your search queries in the uspto-database?

It makes sense that Apple might make a device focused on high quality, or otherwise innovative photos (i.e., Lytro), but I would assume such camera would also have at least the functionality of ipod touch, or even an iphone. Why? Because the attraction of having just one device to carry and to access is wildly compelling. An iphone-c?

The more I think about it the more I know it’s gonna happen. Before buying my P&S Lumix camera two years ago I googled the possibility of Apple getting to this market. Two years later I’m not surprised seeing this speculation.

You ask why would they? Well, because they can make things better for the P&S market and price it reasonably (300-500 USD) and it goes well with their ecosystem. Even one of the latest popular Lumix P&S camera (lumix dmc-zs20) can get much better and user friendly. They already have a lot of expertise in the subject and it just increased throughout the years as can be seen in the SW and HW features Apple add to the iDevices’ cameras. .

Is the iPhone camera makes P&S cameras redundant? No. I don’t need to explain you that. Take zoom as one of the main difference.

What to expect there? Fully touch screen, geotagging, 12x zoom and and even more, integration with iDevice via wifi and/or BT (like I do these days using eye-fi SD card), integration to iPhoto and the rumored iCloud gallery and above all the Apple touch of simplicity - most cameras today are hard to operate for a lot of people that want their cameras to do the job without reading the manuals. Take baby boomers for instance, the same folks that bought the iPhone and love it.

The 7D’s shutter speed and f-stop (aperture) controls work exactly like all Canon SLRs and DSLRs for the last 20 years, which is also similar to the operation of all other non-manual SLRs and DSLRs, from any manufacturer. For ISO, there’s a button labeled “ISO” on the top of the camera. No menus are necessary for any of those functions. Simple and obvious to any amateur who’s used a modern SLR.

This report couldn’t have come at a more timely point for me. I was working a professional video gig last night when a still photographer came up to me. He had a 7D he was given to use and couldn’t figure the thing out. I know the basics of photography because of my video knowledge, but I still couldn’t figure this 7D out. It took me a while to find where the ISO was and to figure out how to change it. I couldn’t find the shutter speed or F-stop functions at all, and the literally 12 menus it has are utterly ridiculous! IF Apple were to come up with a compromise between professional features (F-stops, shutter speed, an actual zoom lens) and consumer features (simplified user interface ala AppleTV and even things like wifi and iCloud support) I would seriously consider it. I loved using a Nikon a couple years ago, but that Canon last night was bulljunk!

Well, the reason the iphone is so popular as a camera is neither because it’s made by apple, nor that it’s particularly good or even easy to use. It’s rather because the iphone is such a popular phone, so many people happen to carry it around. In other words, iphone success on twitter is no indication that a standalome camera will succeed.

Also, to make sense they would have to include social network connectivity in the camera, but then it will almost be a complete phone.

@Tyler ·37: Just commenting on what you said: “My only worry is that with the change in leadership, they might lose sight of the traditional Apple theme: clean, smooth, simple.”
Honestly I haven’t seen anything stupid done by new leadership (i.e. Tim Cook) so hopefully we will stay on the right track, but sure he still has time to do something stupid :-)
In any case, when you think of design you have to think to Johnny Ive for the hardware design and a few other for the SW, and those people are still there and still have their weight/power on future design and decisions.
Unfortunately Steve Jobs is no longer there, but there are a lot of people who worked with him who are still there, so hopefully they won’t let the apple style and design disappear….

The first thing one has to remember is that, eventually, the US will be adopting the same methodology as Europe, in that every connector will have to be standard. I am pretty sure this is where Apple is heading (if they are) with this new adapter schema.

Like everyone else on this forum, I have owned every Apple product made that uses the 30-pin connector-many multiple versions or pieces. I probably have an extra 8 or so 30-pin connectors lying around in case I need to have one for on the go. I am pretty sure Apple is going to have something so that you will be able to use legacy technology (speakers etc.) with the new (again if they are) dock port.

The interesting thing, to me, is that with this new design, Apple is/may be able to change the transfer rates. Now, no spec is published for any of this. Thunderbolt? I’d LOVE to see it, but it is a HUGE port. Unless they are building a different spec for that, I don’t see that happening. New USB 3 connectivity? Now, that is a possibility - even with a proprietary port. I would love to think that the change in design on this port means we are going to be getting much faster transfer speeds. One of the saddest days of my life was the day they got rid of FireWire on the iPods. :-( And, 3 days before that announcement, I had just purchased a brand new FireWire 800 - 30 pin adapter for my Nano… ugh… would really like to think this change means faster transfer rates.

@B #31- I totally agree. If you’re truly an apple enthusiast, you’ll trust that the big boys in charge know what direction they’re taking the company, and won’t make stupid design changes for no reason. Personally, unless there’s a good reason for changing the dock size (i.e. better speed, or they need more room inside to fit a bigger battery etc..), I don’t like the idea of changing sizes. As far as the screen size goes, I’m ready for a change to the iPhone, though, I’m not yet sure what I think about the 16:9 ratio idea. If they go with it, I’ll buy it. If they don’t go with it, I’ll buy it. I just kinda love Apple and what they’ve always done. My only worry is that with the change in leadership, they might lose sight of the traditional Apple theme: clean, smooth, simple.